WD My Cloud 2 TB NAS Drive Review

The network storage drive with easy accessability but limited limited cloud functions — Ashok Pandey

The NAS storage device is easy to setup and does more than storage drives. The device can be connected via an applet or WD’s My Cloud portal. It comes with a browser-based control panel which is easy to operate. Users can be added to access the drive in the network.

Build and Design: It is bigger in size than any other 2 TB external drive. The body case is fairly plain and gets the glossy plastic material that looks cool. The plastic body houses one drive inside which doesn’t require the cooling fan. The multifunctional drive is compact in size and can be stored anywhere, in the office or home, as it takes only a small space. At the rear, it gets a gigabit ethernet port, a Kensington lock, power, reset button and one USB 3.0 port. At the front, there is only one discrete LED that provides the status of the device at a glance.

Features: It comes with a simple software that allows you to connect and set-up the device in only two steps. The 2 TB device is a perfect back-up solution for both Windows/ Mac machines as well as your smartphones. It supports external device as well via USB 3.0 port. So you can expand your capacity if required or you can directly transfer content from your mobile or camera to the drive. It also offers auto back-up using SmartWare for Windows and TimeMachine for Macs.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t support printers or network connectivity. The iOS and Android software have some useful features but the Windows software disappointed me with limitations. You can view, copy and save files while using mobile apps, but with PC, only limited features are available. WD ditches advanced features to concentrate on core functionality such as support for DLNA and iTunes servers, UPnP, and FTP plus multi-user support to set folder access and permissions. There are three ways to access the device from a PC - you can use UNC path, e.g //ip_address//share_name and/or map the path to a drive letter. The third way is through WD My Cloud (desktop app).

Performance: WD Cloud is equipped with a dual-core processor and Gigabit Ethernet that offers stunning transfer speed and remote access. To check the real world performance of the WD My Cloud 2TB, we transferred the assorted data of 10 GB. The drive delivered 21.58 Mbps read and 18.8 Mbps write speed using the test bed (Intel Core i5 CPU, 4X2 Kingston DDR3 RAM, Windows 7 OS and Cooler Master 350 Plus) on our local network. Though it’s not an impressive speed, but users who are looking to expand their data storage, this is an economical choice.

I was able to add users via the PC app and users were able to access the device without any delay. Transferring the data from one device to another was quite easy. We were able to stream videos and edit documents effortlessly within a group of four. Even using the smartphone to access the device was a seamless experience.